Within the span of 12 horses, Don Alberto sold a $1.9 million Curlin filly (Hip 85) through Gainesway to West Bloodstock, agent for Robert and Lawana Low; and a Tapit colt (Hip 97) through Lane's End to Flying Dutchmen during the Aug. 5 opening session of Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale.
Don Alberto bred the Curlin filly out of graded-placed stakes winner Matera (by Tapit), who is a half sister to grade 1-placed, grade 3 winner Not This Time and multiple grade 1 winner Liam's Map , who are both prominent stallions.
About Hip 85, Jacob West said: "The first time I'd seen her on the sales grounds on Friday, I actually texted Mr. Low and I just told him I think I found the next Nest , and he was like, 'All right, you love her that much?' And I said, 'Yeah, she's a monster.' I hate to put a comparison like that on such a young horse, but if I'm being honest that's what she reminds me of."
West selected Eclipse champion and multiple grade 1 winner Nest as a yearling, buying her for $350,000 during the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Nest won graded stakes races at 2, 3, and 4, finished second in the Belmont Stakes (G1), and earned $2,172,675.
“It’s such a live family, she comes from Don Alberto, who you have a lot of faith and trust in buying off of," West said. "They do their matings right, they raise them the right way. Their whole staff, they do a great job, and so you have a lot of confidence buying off of them."
"She'll go to J.J. (Jake) Pletcher, and then to Todd (Pletcher), he'll like her. We loved her right from the start. The physical, the pedigree, we were hooked," said Low.
Magnum Moon , winner of the Rebel Stakes (G2) and Arkansas Derby (G1), was owned by the Lows. They also campaigned Colonel Liam , winner of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1).
"They're patient and they love their horses, love gambling, love every aspect of it," said West of the Lows. "They're such good people, they position themselves for luck, and it comes right away."
Hip 97 is out of the grade 1-placed, multiple graded stakes winner Mopotism and sold to Hunter Rankin, acting as agent for Flying Dutchmen, for $1.5 million.
The racing and breeding entity is owned by the Boersma family, which recently purchased a farm in Lexington. The organization previously operated under the name Boardshorts Stables. Rankin described Flying Dutchmen as a breed-to-race operation.
"We wanted to buy fillies to join our broodmare band, and really nice colts so that we have something to race next year," he said. "But we're not going to buy anything close to this colt anytime soon. We wanted to buy a really nice colt at this sale or at Keeneland, and we didn't know if we'd get him. The price was kind of our limit."
The colt is from the family of Songster , a son of Songandaprayer and a multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter.
Though the family hasn't decided who will train the horse, it will have a name for it within 24 hours, after a family vote.
Earlier in the sale, Hip 32, also bred by Don Alberto, was purchased for $500,000 by Centennial Farms. The dark bay/brown filly was consigned by Denali Stud. The farm bred the filly out of the Scat Daddy stakes winner Dolce Lili , whose immediate family includes 2011 Queen's Plate winner and champion 3-year-old filly Inglorious and grade 1-placed, grade 3 winner Dixie Strike, who won the Prince of Wales Stakes.
"We are incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to come up here and showcase these yearlings," said Reed Ringler, COO of Don Alberto's United States operations. "It is a labor of love from Carlos and Ms. Liliana all the way to every person on the farm. We are passionate about horses, and the market and atmosphere in the pavilion tonight was equal to the task. What a night."
Haras Don Alberto, owned by Liliana Solari and her son Carlos Heller, has a successful breeding and racing operation in Chile. The company expanded to North America in 2013 when it bought the former Vinery Farm near Lexington.